UPDATE: Kansas House Passes Proposal for New Constitutional Amendment Restricting State Agency Regulations
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – The Kansas House Monday approved a constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the authority to revoke rules and regulations created by the governor's administration and state agencies. The proposal failed in the House last week, but a procedural move gave lawmakers one last chance. The amendment got the two-thirds majority vote needed in the Kansas House with support from Republican lawmakers. They say it will stop governors and state agencies from making rules that effectively change state law. But Democrats oppose the bill, saying the change would disrupt the state’s balance of power. They say the bill is targeting Democratic Governor Laura Kelly. If the amendment is approved in the Senate, it will go to a statewide vote this fall.
(–Earlier Reporting–)
GOP Hopes to Save Plan to Limit Kansas Agency Regulations
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Republicans hope to revive a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would make it easier for the GOP-controlled Legislature to overturn state agencies' regulations. The House voted 80-33 last week to approve the measure, leaving supporters four votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage. The House can take a second vote, but it must occur today (MON) or the measure dies. Attorney General Derek Schmidt outlined the proposal last year after Republicans spent months criticizing Democratic Governor Laura Kelly's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Schmidt is the presumed GOP nominee for governor this year. Democrats see the proposal as political, while Republicans say it would rein in bureaucrats.
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Kansas Supreme Court Asked to Dismiss Lawsuits over Redistricting Maps
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is asking the Kansas Supreme Court to dismiss two lawsuits filed over new Republican-drawn congressional maps. Schmidt argued in a petition that the controversy over redistricting should be decided in the Legislature, not in state courts. He also said the legal challenges are without merit. The maps would cost the state's only Democrat in Congress some territory in her Kansas City-area district. The lawsuits, filed last week in Wyandotte County District Court, argue the new maps violate the state Constitution and the Legislature's redistricting guidelines. Schmidt's office wants the state Supreme Court to bypass the district court and take up the matter itself.
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Kansas Lawmakers May Make It Harder for Police to Seize Cash
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are considering two proposals that would make it harder for police to seize and keep cash and property from people suspected in crimes. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that one bill would require law enforcement to get a criminal conviction before seizing assets. Currently, law enforcement can go to civil court to get approval to take property officers believe is linked to a crime. Supporters of the process say it serves as a deterrent to crime and provides important funding for law enforcement. The latest Kansas Bureau of Investigation report on the practice said law enforcement agencies statewide claimed $2.1 million in cash and nearly $800,000 in other property in 2020 through the civil forfeiture process.
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Missouri Officials: Salina, Kansas, Man Involved in Fatal 2-Vehicle Crash
PLATTE CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in Platte County, Missouri, say a man and a teenage boy were killed in crash that also injured two other children and a woman. The Platte County Sheriff's Office says the crash happened Sunday afternoon on state Highway 92 between Platte City and Smithville. Investigators say a minivan driven by a 37-year-old man from Salina, Kansas, overcorrected after drifting onto the shoulder and veered into oncoming traffic, colliding with a car. Officials say the man and a 14-year-old passenger were killed. Two other passengers in the minivan — a 6-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl — were rushed to a hospital. Investigators say the 67-year-old woman driving the car also was taken to a hospital with injuries. Officials have not released the names of the man and child killed.
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Medical Examiner: Motorcycle Driver Shot Before Crash
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — What appeared to be a deadly motorcycle crash turned into a homicide investigation after a medical examiner determined the driver had been shot before the crash. The crash was reported shortly before 3 am Sunday after the motorcycle driver went straight into a roundabout at the intersection of Benton Boulevard and St. John Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. Police department spokesman Jake Becchina said the motorcycle driver was thrown off his burnt orange Harley Davidson in the crash. The driver, who was identified as 50-year-old Jeffrey Nemitz of Omaha, Nebraska, was pronounced dead at a hospital. The Jackson County Medical Examiner determined later that Nemitz had been shot.
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Four People from Texas Die in Rollover Crash on Icy Kansas Highway
LINN COUNTY, Kan. (AP) — Four people from Texas died when their pickup truck hit an icy patch on a highway about 75 miles south of Kansas City and rolled. The Kansas Highway Patrol said the crash happened Friday morning along U.S. Highway 69 in Linn County. A crash report said 66-year-old Larry Klingensmith lost control of the 2019 Dodge Ram after it hit the ice. The truck then veered into a ditch and rolled twice before landing upside down in a flooded wildlife area and becoming submerged. Klingensmith and all three of his passengers who were all from Winnsboro, Texas, died. The other people in the truck were 65-year-old Kimberly Klingensmith, 32-year-old Karly Klingensmith and 36-year-old Nicolas Klingensmith.
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KCK Man Pleads Guilty in Death of 3-Year-Old Daughter
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City, Kansas, man will be sentenced March 25 after pleading guilty to killing his 3-year-old daughter. KSHB-TV reported 30-year-old Howard Jansen III pleaded guilty last week to second-degree murder and five other charges. Police found the body of his daughter, Olivia Jansen, in July 2020 in a wooded area in Kansas City, Kansas, hours after Jansen reported her missing. An autopsy found she had signs of physical abuse and had died of a brain bleed. Jansen's girlfriend, Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, is serving a 31-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in Olivia's death.
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Woman Accused of Decapitating Son Will Undergo Mental Health Testing
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 35-year-old Kansas City woman charged with decapitating her 6-year-old son will undergo a mental health evaluation. KSHB-TV reports that the prosecution of Tasha Haefs was suspended last week after a mental health evaluation was ordered. Authorities say officers who were called to a home in eastern Kansas City on Tuesday found Karvel Stevens dead and Haefs with blood on her. Police say they went to the home after a woman called and said the devil was trying to attack her. Haefs has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
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Man Charged with Attempted Rape of Kansas City Hospital Patient
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jackson County prosecutors say a man is facing felony charges after a patient at a Kansas City hospital reported that he tried to rape her. The suspect, 31-year-old Elisha Beraiah, was charged Saturday with first-degree attempted rape and first-degree sodomy. Prosecutors say officers responded to a call Thursday at University Health Medical Center. The victim, who is visually impaired, said a man assaulted her while she was in her hospital bed. A hospital staff member said she went into the room and saw Beraiah in the woman's bed with his pants down. He is being held without bond. Online court records don't list an attorney for him.
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Man Found Guilty in Shooting Death of Lawrence Man
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 25-year-old man was convicted of killing a man he was trying to remove from his home. Steven Drake was convicted Friday of killing 26-year-old Bryce Holladay in September 2017. Drake was charged with first-degree murder but the jury convicted him on the lesser charge. Drake testified during the trial that he shot Holladay in self-defense as he was trying to get Holladay to leave his duplex. He testified that Holladay was stealing from the home and was violent. Prosecutors said Drake shot Holladay with premeditation, citing texts he sent to other people saying he was going to shoot Holladay.
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Man Charged with Fatally Shooting 2 People in Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 20-year-old man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after two people were shot to death at a southeast Wichita home. Brandon Prouse Jr., was charged Friday during his first court appearance in the case. His bond was set at $1 million. Wichita police went to a home on February 13 to investigate a call about a shooting. Officers say 38-year-old Bonnie Galloway and 30-yaer-old Connor O'Callaghan were shot and died at the scene. Police say the victims and Prouse knew each other and the shooting was believed to be related to drugs.
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Lawsuit Filed over 2019 Jailhouse Suicide in Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A civil lawsuit has been filed over the jailhouse suicide of a Wichita man charged with killing an elderly Army veteran. KAKE reports that the suit, which was filed Friday, alleges that Sedgwick County commissioners and the sheriff are at fault in the death of 36-year-old Austin Stewart. He was found dead in his cell in May 2019 of self-inflicted asphyxiation. Stewart was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and theft in the November 2018 beating and asphyxiation death of 88-year-old Floyd Gilbert. Court records say Gilbert died during an attempted robbery. Stewart and another man apparently targeted Gilbert because they thought he kept cash and guns in a safe in his home.
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Shots Fired at Vehicle That Crashed in Wichita; 2 Dead
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say two people were found dead in a car that crashed in Wichita after it came under gunfire. KSNW reports that the crash happened early Monday. Police say that although someone was shooting at the car, officers don’t think bullets hit any of the people inside the vehicle. Police identified the two victims as 21-year-old Amill Williams and 20-year-old Alonzo Montgomery, A 22-year-old woman also was ejected from the car but is expected to survive. Police are still investigating.
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Missouri, Justice Department Feud Complicates Joint Program
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A crime-fighting partnership between Missouri and the Justice Department is caught in the middle of a dispute over a new Missouri law banning local police from enforcing federal gun laws. The Department of Justice teamed up with the Missouri attorney general's office to fight violent crime under the Safer Streets Initiative. Missouri's Republican attorney general, Eric Schmitt, said this week that the federal government withdrew from the program after filing a lawsuit this week seeking to block enforcement of Missouri's new gun law. However, although Missouri assistant attorneys general working for the St. Louis-based U.S. attorney were dropped from the program last week, the partnership with the Western District U.S. attorney remains.
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Infrastructure Deal Includes Money to Fix 2019 Flood Damage
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The nation’s massive infrastructure bill includes $248 million to help repair damage from 2019 flooding along the Missouri River. The St. Joseph News-Press reports that the flood damaged most of the structures used to control the river in an area that stretches from Rulo, Nebraska, to St. Louis. Dane Morris, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the intent is that once these structures are repaired, that they should be able to sustain a flood similar to 2019 better than they did previously. The flooding three years ago breached levees, inundating tens of thousands of acres and forcing thousands from their homes.
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Gonzaga Unanimous No. 1 in AP Top 25; Arizona Up to #2
UNDATED (AP) - Gonzaga is the unanimous No. 1 in the latest Associated Press men's basketball poll. The Zags aren't likely to budge the way they're dominating the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga remained at No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving all 61 votes from a media panel. Arizona moved up a spot to No. 2 for its highest ranking in four years, with Auburn, Purdue and Kansas rounding out the top five. Gonzaga is winning its WCC games by an average of 27 points. Saint Mary's gave the WCC two ranked teams and No. 25 Iowa moved into the poll for the first time this season.
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These area headlines are curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Kaye McIntyre, and Tom Parkinson. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays, 11 am weekends. This news summary is made possible by KPR listener-members. Become one today!